For the 10th annual edition, the CYFEST Digital Media Program is excited to travel to Taiga Art Space (St Petersburg), Corferias in partnership with SOFA (Bogota and Mexico), and the Made In New York Media Center (Brooklyn, New York.) ALL SCREENINGS WILL BE FREE OF CHARGE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

THE CYFEST 10 DIGITAL MEDIA THEME IS “DIGITAL REVOLUTION”.

Through the Digital Evolution era, New Media artists used the technology available to make images to be viewed on a screen. From projections to television, computers, devices, applications, and games – generations of creatives have manipulated, innovated, probed, and progressed the Tech industry tools they utilize to create and present art.

Erasing the boundaries that until now separated the parallel fields of Art :: Tech, New Media artists are transitioning from being users of available technology to makers of the next generation of innovation. The division of Art :: Tech has been broken through, and artists’ visions of what is technologically possible in the present is shaping our perspective future. Vive la Digital REvolution.

The CYFEST 10 DIGITAL MEDIA PROGRAM is a curated selection of short-format video works by established and emerging artists from cities where public screenings are to be held. Curated by Leah Stuhltrager, the program spans forms of screen-based art including animated gifs, net art, virtual reality, stop-motion, performance art, gaming, vgital collage, and technology based innovation in film.

AES+F, The Feast of Trimalchio, 2009-10

THE CYFEST 10 DIGITAL MEDIA PROGRAM PRESENTS:

Egor Kraft in collaboration with Alexander Letsius (RU), New Now App, 2016

“New Now App” displays one enigmatic line of text running in an infinite loop: “…This very moment, has already become the past” etc. By relentlessly manifesting the present moment, the app is a monument to the irreversibility of the flow of time and the complexity of commanding attention in the digital age.

In “Mama,” an adolescent girl awakes and embarks upon a journey to “find” her mother — a quest replete with prognosticatingstrangers, distant lands, a clairvoyant bird to guide the way, and a fateful boat ride.

Katerina Pits (RU), selected animated gifs

Katerina Pits gifs explore the bubblegum subconscious — a form searching for a sound, awash in the signs and symbols that give meaning to digital life.

Continuing the artist’s explorations of the phenomena of spiritualism, “Pull Down” draws attention to the role of the camera as observer of the medium within historic psychical research studies.

Boris Kazakov (RU), Nestlings of the Sea, 1996

As an assault on the historical archive, Kazakov draws caricatures directly on 35mm documentary films produced by amateur Soviet studio in the 1970s.

Emily McFarland (IR), Zabriskie Point Reversed, 2015

“Zabriskie Point Reversed” reappropriates footage from the final scene of Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1970 film Zabriskie Point — a slow motion explosion transforming the artifacts of consumer capitalism into kaleidoscopic colors and forms. Through the transgressive reversal, “Zabriskie Point Reversed” explores the linkages between radical revolutions in art, film, and society.

AES+F’s recent work has developed at the intersection of photography, video and digital technologies, although it is nurtured by a persistent interest in more traditional media — sculpture especially, but also painting, drawing and architecture. Deploying a sophisticated, poetic dialogue among these media, and plumbing the depths of art history and other cultural canons, AES+F’s grand visual narratives explore the values, vices and conflicts of contemporary culture in the global sphere.

“Analog Internet” is a video-sculpture that reveals a pyramid of fully-rendered CRT televisions, each playing a cat video appropriated from YouTube playing. In the face of the internet’s unyielding obsession with cats,”Analog Internet” re-imagines that same fascination in a physical space.

During the 90s, users from all over the world created personalized corners of the Internet via GeoCities; by the time the service shut down in October 2009, there were more than 38 million GeoCities pages. Cameron’s World brings together archived material from thousands and thousands of these sites. In an age where we interact primarily with branded and marketed web content, Cameron’s World is a tribute to the lost days of unrefined self-expression on the Internet.

Set against a background of ubiquitous self-representation that calls into question the performance of every day life, “Something Must Happen” calls into question the moments that structure our existence.

Polina Kanis (RU), New Flag, 2016

With “New Flag” the artist examines the relationship between the representation of any ideological form and the mechanism of its creation.

Chat of tears is a self-portrait recorded with an old webcam. A sad gesture and some tears frame a revealing commentary about virtual communications, personal anecdotes and thought itself.

Andres Castaño (CO), Una Canción Social / A Social Song, 2015

The symbolic act of playing a musical piece on a statue of a representative of one of Bolivia’s most significant political figures speaks to the ideological contrast at the heart of the power structures in Latin America, developing a critical space for resistance in public space and cultural life.

Veronika Rudyeva-Ryazansteva (RU), Masks, 2012

“Masks” is a political party without politics — just gastronomical fun, music and unrestrained dancing. Dressed herring salad, caviar, lemonade and other Soviet insignia are devoured by the guests hiding behind the masks of celebrities.

Zlye (RU), The Main Thing is Not to Repeat, 2016

“The Main Thing is Not to Repeat” enters into a dialogue with the local graffiti community, hinting at senselessness and monotony of this action and reaching out towards a new future for street art on the World Wide Web.

“Behaviour Setting” explores psychological theories and learning techniques as integrated forms constructed through the emotional and cognitive engagement of the viewer. The raw materials used in Behaviour Setting are appropriated from a wide range of sources including optical illusions, particle physics engines, crowd analysis software and microscopic imagery.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:

CORFERIAS FOR SOFA (BOGOTA, CO), Cra. 37 #24-67, Bogotá, Colombia

Held annually in Bogota, SOFA (Salon Leisure and fantasy) is an international Tech and Culture event bringing together communities involved with electronics, gaming, film, art, and performance. Held at Corferias (Centro Internacional de Negocios y Exposiciones de Bogotá), SOFA was attended by 130,000 visitors in 2014; 170,000 in 2015.

ABOUT US:

Leah Stuhltrager specializes in the emerging, intersecting fields of Art and Technology. Career highlights include projects at Lincoln Center, Coachella, E-Halle, Contemporary Istanbul, Circulo de Bellas Artes, The Hermitage Museum, Oriental Pearl Tower, CYBERFEST, Art Meets Tech, sister city “Berlin x Tokyo” at Roppongi Hills, Asia Pacific Week for the German Senate, SOFA Bogota, and London’s The Great Eastern Wall. She is on the Board of TEDxBerlin.

CYFEST: Held annually since 2007, CYFEST (formerly CYBERFEST) is the first and biggest festival for technologically based art in Russia. Growing over years to become a massive international event, CYFEST 2012 rose to include over 80 artists held across St Petersburg’s top institutions: The State Hermitage Museum, Peter and Paul Fortress, KURYOKHIN MODERN ART CENTER, POLIGRAF Art Hall, Borey Gallery, and the Gallery of Experimental Sound. In 2013, CYFEST held their festival in Berlin – marking the first time this important event is held outside St Petersburg. This significant move was designed to strengthen the cultural exchange between Art and Technology creatives within Russia and their international counterparts.

CYLAND MediaArtLab: CYLAND is one of Russia’s most active New Media art nonprofit organizations and has headquarters in St Petersburg, Berlin and NYC. CYLAND houses the largest archive of Eastern European video art online, organizes exhibits around the world and is the force behind CYBERFEST (Russia’s largest annual New Media art event.) CYBERFEST has been held across St Petersburg’s top art institutions: The State Hermitage Museum, Peter and Paul Fortress, KURYOKHIN MODERN ART CENTER, Borey Gallery, the Gallery of Experimental Sound and Creative Space Tkachi. CYLAND was cofounded by Marina Koldobskaya and Anna Frants.

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OUR EXHIBITIONS

CYLAND supports production and exhibit of New Media Art year round.

Emerging and established, local or international – selected artists are provided resources from technicians to equipment and professional development. Collaboration is encouraged via a residency program. Read more >

OUR FESTIVAL - CYFEST (Formerly called “CYBERFEST”)

CYLAND began their annual festival in 2007, in St Petersburg, Russia. Over the following editions, this event grew to be housed across the world's most prestigious institutions.

IN RUSSIA
Showcasing over 80 artists from 20 countries in a single festival, CYLAND is known as the force behind the original and biggest New Media event in Russia. It is held annually at The State Hermitage Museum.

GLOBALLY
In 2013, CYLAND expanded the 7th annual edition of their festival for the first time outside of Russia opening additional potential for discourse among the global innovation community.